1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a distribution arrangement for telecommunication apparatus with a safety plug for a contact component part which is provided with a terminal connecting components for incoming and outgoing electrical leads.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A safety plug of the type as referred to herein is generally known, for example, in German Patent Application DE-OS No. 30 14 796. This safety plug has plug-in blades that can be plugged into a terminal strip, as is shown, for example, in German Patent Application DE-OS No. 27 25 551. A terminal strip of this type has corresponding spring contacts that are connected to the electrical leads. The safety plug is provided with surge arresters that are connected with the plug-in blades. A pole of the surge arresters is coupled to a grounding bar which has lateral contact blades that resemble the plug-in blades in kind and in size. The ground potential is conducted to the grounding bar via these contact blades.
It is further known from German Patent Application DE-OS No. 27 20 220 to set the grounding bar directly into the contact component part. The safety plug, in this case, becomes merely a holder for the surge arresters, that are inserted in the contact component part. The grounding bar is connected with a grounded bearing rail for the contact component part, via a bow-type leaf spring. However, a safety plug of this kind has the drawback that, in case a surge arrester must be changed, the entire plug must be removed, so that the leads are not protected during that time.
It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to conduct the ground potential to the safety plug in the simplest and safest possible manner.
A contact arrangement such as is known from German Patent Application DE-OS 36 25 476 includes, with reference to FIG. 1, a flat safety plug with surge protection components to protect subscriber lines that are connected frontally to terminal connecting components of a layer distributor. The terminal connecting components, for their part, are connected with the surge protection components, via plug-in contacts. A curved bearing plate has stamped-out spring legs 21, between which the safety plug is inserted with a contact zone 22. The contact zone is coupled electrically with the protective components that are designed as, eg. surge arresters, so that surges that may occur can be diverted to the grounded bearing plate. The contact points of the spring legs are designed in spherical form, so that a relatively small, point-like contact surface will result.
It is also known from German Patent Application DE-OS No. 23 15 838, to provide the safety plug with a grounding plate on its backside, that rests via contact fingers at any given time against one pole of the surge arresters, and that is contacted on the longitudinal edge on its backside by means of spring fingers of the spring plate carrying the potential, which is held fast to the component-bearing part. This, too, results in a relatively small contact area between the safety plug and the curved spring finger of the grounded component-bearing part.